Acceleration
by Tyndall Blue
Summary: During a lull in the fighting, the boys are left time to deal with the reality of their situation. However, during the time off they begin to realize the armor has more of an impact on themselves than they realize. Eventual Touma/Shin
1. Chapter 1

Acceleration

Chapter One

The living room was dark, lit dimly by a small yellowed lamp by the couch. A fan beat weakly high on the vaulted ceiling. Such heat this time of year was usual. The boys were certain that if there had been newscasters to say so, today would have been a record high.

Everything the boys touched seemed to instantly be coated with a fine layer of sticky sweat. Sighing softly a boy appeared from beneath a tumble of legs on the couch. His skin made a sound like Velcro as it pulled away from the leather of the sofa. The body he was under shifted sluggishly.

"Hey Shin," drawled the blue-haired boy, an arm thrown over his eyes. The words stumbled from his mouth, still sedated with the earlier celebration of his birthday. He practically spilled off the couch with the length of his awkward teenage limbs.

"Yes, Touma?" asked the auburn-haired boy. He primly attempted to shift the worst of his friend's weight off of him, suffocated by the heat.

"Shiiin," whined the boy again, sitting up with what was certainly an unpleasant jerk. His hand flew to his forehead, his wide blue eyes following the shifting lines of the room.

"What, Touma? I heard you the first time," Shin murmured. Touma leaned forward, closer than the trapped boy would have liked, his blue hair falling into his eyes. The unfocused expression gave him a devilish look. Shin could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"I got somethin' to tell ya," he purred.

"I gathered that, Tou-chan." Shin jibed. "What is it?"

"I wish I was a DNA helicase," Touma slurred, slinging his arms around the shorter boy, holding himself upright.

"And why is that?" Shin sighed, keeping a level expression on Touma's drunken, beaming  
face.

"Because if I was, I could unzip your genes," Touma whispered not so sexily into his ear. Shin sighed heavily. There wasn't even a full second of silence before Touma snorted loudly and unpleasantly into Shin's ear. His laughter ceased suddenly and Shin's two firm hands shoved him off the couched and he fell into a pile of jean clad legs and bare arms.

"I think you might have had a little too much to drink," Shin murmured, extracting himself the rest of the way from the couch while Touma lay whining on the floor.

"Shin, why you got to be such a bitch?" Touma protested as his friend stepped over him, picking up stray cans as he passed.

"You should be grateful, I'm the one that planned the damn thing," Shin muttered, tolerance for Touma waning further.

"C'mon, man, all you had to do was steal a bunch of beer from the gas station. S'not like you even had to spend anything," he said pouting. Shin felt Touma's hands slide up his legs, hooking into his belt.

"Yeah, and then I had to stop Ryo and Shuu from drinking all of – Hey! Touma, you can't do that!" Shin screeched as Touma attempted to pull himself up via Shin's pants. Shin pulled vainly at them, until they finally slid off with a confused and then amused Touma giggling on the floor. Shin immediately descended into fit of cursing.

"I swear. I fight goddamn warlords on my summer vacation and then I get to put up with this whenever I get a moment of goddamn peace," he hissed, pulling his belt unnecessarily tight. Touma stopped laughing as Shin went back to cleaning. It was silent again, except for the whining fan and the rustle and clink of bottles and cans sinking into a paper bag for Ryo to burn later.

With the Dynasty back, there was no one to collect the garbage, and with six people trash piled up quickly. Shuu had suggested just throwing it in the lake, which Shin had protested heartily. Ryo had volunteered to handle it. Shin suspected he enjoyed it too much.

He stopped cleaning, suddenly aware of the two plaintive blue eyes following his form around the living room. He looked back and shuddered slightly at the oddly glittering quality. He sometimes worried they'd never be able to integrate back into everyday life after this battle.

"Shin, are you mad at me?"

"You're just drunk. It's not a big deal," he murmured, still unnerved. None of them were normal, at least not anymore. The longer they spent in the armor, the more like it they became. Ryo seemed to be running a constant fever, but unaffected by it. And his eyes, while blue, were terrifyingly hot to look at. Shin was ashamed to admit he could rarely look into anyone's eyes anymore. Seiji's glowed violet, even at night. Shuu, well, Shuu was just smothering.

"Liar, you're mad," Touma said quietly and in a tone that was final.

"Not at you, Touma," Shin murmured softly, trying to reassure the younger boy. Touma, when sober at least, was the most observant of all of them. He wondered if he'd noticed the little changes. The way Seiji, who'd never before been frightened of the dark, spent every waking hour in the sun.

Shuu, previously the most likely to roughhouse, handled all of them, especially Jun, like something horrifyingly fragile. Shin was scared to think of how strong he must be becoming if had to hold Shin's prized case iron pans between just two fingers.

"You're worried about something," Touma murmured, mind still analytical through the fuzz. Shin had seen Touma change too, become more withdrawn, less bombastic. He'd been the most childish of them, and in many ways still was. He saw the patterns in people, but rarely understood them. Shin saw the way he watched the group, his lips moving slightly as he took apart their personalities and put them back together.

Once, when Jun had been crying, suddenly homesick, he saw Touma get up and leave in a huff of frustration. If people didn't act like he did, he thought they were being unreasonable. Just the same way he didn't understand how uncomfortable he made Ryo and Shuu with his constant flirting and touching.

"I am," he conceded, wiping up a spill from a table, frowning at the pale stain it left. "About what the armors are doing to us." Touma just sat and watched Shin clean in silence and put overturned furniture upright again.

Shin found his glass on the other side of the room and drank deeply.

"Are you diabetic, Suiko?" Touma asked, perching himself on top of the couch.

"No, why?"

"You drink more water than anyone I know. Seiji and I have been wanting to ask you about it." Shin put his glass back down, thinking back to how much water he'd drunk the day before.

"It's the armor," he said quietly.

"Does the armor make you a clean freak, too?" Shin sniffed indignantly at Touma's teasing, going back to cleaning.

"You notice how you've started finding the high places, like a cat?" Shin teased back.

"You must take ten showers a day," Touma retorted. Shin didn't tell him how he always felt parched and dry, like those sea creatures for sale in the beach shops. Touma didn't tell Shin how he felt suffocated on the ground, claustrophobic.

Silently, the auburn-haired boy picked up his bags and carried them out onto the back porch. The horizon glowed with the promise of sun and even more smothering heat.

"Seiji will be up soon," came Touma's voice behind him, draping his arm around Shin's shoulders.

"Yeah, I expect he will be."

Seiji indeed rose promptly five minutes before dawn, showered, dressed, and combed his perfect blonde hair. Casually he prepared his tea, and moved to the porch to drink it, listening to the dawn chorus of the birds. He wasn't sure which was more refreshing, the sunrise or the tea. Stretching, he rested his legs on the railing and tipped back. It would be several hours before anyone else was awake. Closing his eyes, he truly rested.

Ryo was the first to rise after Seiji, but he did not come downstairs. Instead Seiji could hear him emerge from the direction of Mia's room, slipping down the hall to his own. Seiji wondered how much longer till the others knew what was going on. Shuu woke next, entering the room with the purpose of a hung over avalanche.

"No breakfast?" Shuu asked, blinking sleep out of his eyes, his hair still disheveled. Seiji wished he would groom himself more. The stray hairs bothered him almost more than Touma's uneven bangs.

"You need to make it yourself this morning. Shin and Touma went to bed right before I woke up," Seiji said primly, pressing his lips to the hot rim of his cup. Shuu grumbled before lumbering into the kitchen to make toast. Without asking, he made some for Seiji who accepted it with grace.

Shuu sat heavily in the chair next to him.

"Our blue boys really go to bed that late?" Shuu mumbled after swallowing the last of his crumbs. Immediately he started on the butter and jam on his fingers. Seiji nodded.

"Shin stayed up to keep an eye on the birthday boy," Seiji said absently, watching the lake.

"Till goddamn dawn?" Shuu exclaimed. Seiji shrugged.

"Touma didn't come in till I was getting ready to go downstairs," explained. Shuu took it in silence.

"Well Shin better cook an amazing lunch," Shuu pouted. Seiji smiled softly.

"You might have to wait till dinner."

"If I have to wait that long I'm going to eat someone, and I'll start with you."

"How crude, Shuu. There isn't even any meat on me," Seiji said smiling.

"Better you than Touma's chicken legs," Shuu teased. He saw Seiji look down at this legs propped on the railing. The ash haired boy couldn't help but laugh at the slight furrow of his brow and nearly imperceptible pout as Seiji wondered precisely how meaty Shuu thought he was.

Though Seiji was used to his roommate rarely rising before noon, he was still surprised Touma was still deeply asleep when he went to catch the afternoon rays in his bed. Quietly he made his way to his bed, neatly stepping over Touma's scattered clothes. Touma didn't even flinch as Seiji sank noisily into the old mattress, hand reaching over and brushing the long bangs out of Touma's face. Seiji really wished he'd cut them off, if only because he suspected they impaired his vision, which is not a desirable quality in an archer. Slowly he let his hand run over Touma's impossibly cool cheek.

"Touma?" He whispered, concerned. There was still color in his lips, but no one should be this cool. Maybe it was his low blood pressure. Seiji still remembered the panic everyone went into when Touma stood up and passed out one morning at breakfast. His fingers felt at Touma's throat, searching for his pulse, and to his relief he found it steady. "Touma, c'mon, it's time to wake up." He shook the archer's shoulders. With a mighty and pathetic groan, his eyes opened.

"The fuck, Seiji?" He groaned, eyes barely focused on the blond.

"You were cold. I was worried," he said simply. Touma whined again, rolling onto his stomach, pressing his face into the pillow.

"Motherfucker," he mumbled into the pillow. Seiji sighed and stood, going back to his bed to lie in the sun. His fingers fumbled on his nightstand for his book. He listened as Touma pulled himself from his bed, stumbling into his pants. It was a rare blessing when Touma wore more than boxers around the house. The blonde appraised his friend's legs. Shuu had a point; even he had more meat on him. Touma had grown taller and ganglier over the months. Now he had at least an inch on everyone in the house.

His eyes could barely focus on the page as he listened to Touma stumble around the room. Then it went silent with a thump. Looking up he saw that Touma had fallen back on the bed, pants not even buttoned. Attractive. Seiji wished for a camera.

"C'mon buddy, it's past two," he said, laughing a bit, reaching over to shake him awake again. Touma's face momentarily took a confused expression, but his eyes refused to open. "I swear you're becoming fucking nocturnal," Seiji grumbled, grabbing the waist of Touma's pants, using the leverage to hoist the warrior of air onto his shoulder. Touma groaned in protest. Ignoring them, Seiji carried him into the hallway and started down the stairs.

"Mn, Seiji, I never realized you had such a great ass," Touma teased sleepily. Seiji rolled his eyes, sighed and readjusted his passenger who protested with a soft rush of air. "C'mon dude, it's a compliment."

"I understand your eccentricities, Touma, and I'm flattered. However, I'm afraid you're going to scare Shuu or Ryo half to death," Seiji teased. He gasped as something icy cold slithered under his shirt to the top of his hips.

"Oh, Seiji? You understand me?" Touma purred.

"Ok, that might have been an exaggeration," Seiji conceded. The cool slipped further down to grab his ass. Seiji yelped. Touma cackled until he fell to the floor with a thud. Seiji stomped down the stairs in graceful huff.

"Seiji, come back! I thought we had something special!" Touma laughed, doubled over. Seiji answered by slamming a door.


	2. Chapter 2

Acceleration

Chapter 2

Downstairs, Touma learned that Shin had woken up several hours earlier, and after lunch had retired to the lake. Grabbing leftovers he moved to the porch to join a brooding Seiji. Touma wasn't worried; he knew he wasn't really mad at him. He waved cheerfully to Ryo who was beginning the walk to the lake.

"You joining us?"

"In a bit," Touma replied, gesturing to his half finished meal. Ryo took off at a jog, the only one unaffected by the heat.

"Lunatic," Touma mumbled. Seiji said nothing. "Y'know, if it really ruffled your feathers that much I won't grab your ass again," Touma mumbled around rice. Seiji sighed quietly. Cautiously, Touma leaned his head on Seiji's shoulder. He knew his friend wasn't normally one for physical contact, but on occasion he would tolerate a gentle touch.

"Don't chew in my ear," Seiji muttered. Touma laughed and sat up again, knowing they were ok again.

"You gonna go for a swim?" Touma asked, standing as he finished, brushing crumbs from his bare chest. Seiji made an ambiguous sound.

"C'mon, it'll be fun. You know Naste loves watching us be healthy young boys," Touma purred, sliding his hands over Seiji's shoulders.

"I'll go if you promise to not grope me the rest of the day," he grinned slightly not visible to his friend. Touma made a happy sound and pulled away,

"Deal," he laughed, leaving his plate on the porch where he was sure would see it and Shin would pitch a fit. He took off at a hip leading saunter towards the lake, and reluctantly Seiji followed a dignified distance behind.

Touma could hear them at the lake before he saw them. Naste was screaming and Shin was laughing loudly. Touma was jealous.

"Hey guys, how could you have fun without me?" He whined loudly look down on them. Ryo had Naste thrown over his shoulder. She shrieked and kicked loudly, splashing water over everyone. Touma didn't miss the way Ryo held onto her, his hands suspiciously high on her thighs. Shin was lying on the shore, curled up on his towel. Touma carefully made his way over to him, trying his hardest to be quiet. Kneeling down, he saw Shin was asleep. Looking over his shoulder, Shuu and Ryo were still fighting over Naste who continued to shriek and laugh. Jun rode proudly on Shuu's shoulders, assisting in trying to knock Ryo down.

Jun's hat sloshed on the shore and absently he scooped it up, grinning. Shin didn't move even as he approached noisily. He stared down at Shin's peacefully sleeping face, contemplating how much 

of a jerk he'd have to be to disrupt such an angel. He decided he was. The reaction was better than he could have imagined. Shin sputtered and screamed and Touma was in the water before he could even figure out what was going on. Touma waited for him in the chest high water while Shin yelled angrily on shore. The water was like ice, and it took all of Touma's machismo to prevent him from shrieking at the cold.

"You – you sod!" Shin shrilled. Touma practically crowed, head thrown back in laughter.

"Shuu, what's a sod?" Jun inquired from the shoulders of the earth warrior.

"Um," Shuu started, looking anxiously a Naste for help.

"Shuu! I forbid you from telling him!" Shin continued to shout from the shoreline.

"It's nothing little guy," Ryo reassured him, pulling him from Shuu's shoulder. Ryo suspected that Shuu's strength would be needed to break up this squabble, though part of him was tempted to let Shin drown their increasingly rambunctious companion. Ryo retreated to shore with Naste and Jun, intent on keeping them out of harm's way.

"Aww, Fish, you're so cute when you're angry!" Touma shouted back. He'd never seen Shin's pretty little heart-shaped face so red before. His laughter stopped when Shin dove into the water. Now that he thought about it, escaping into the water was a very stupid decision. In the water, Shin was like lightening, faster than Touma was on the land. He'd only gotten a few frantic strokes away before Shin surged out of the water. Shin was pleased to see that Touma's expression was one of pure terror when he pulled him under the water.

Seiji arrived in time to see Touma disappear under the water. He wasn't surprised, the two blue warriors were the most distant from each other, and Touma's lack of sensitivity never ceased to grate on Shin's nerves. He suspected that Touma deserved this rather vicious attack.

They stayed under a long time. If it had been just Shin, no one would have worried, but Touma was the poorest swimmer of them all.

"Shuu, can you see them?" Ryo yelled from the shore. Naste's hand pressed to his chest in concern.

"You want me to get them?" Shuu shouted back, slogging through the water.

"Yeah, this is stupid, they need to cut the crap," Ryo seethed. He hated it when the others bickered. Touma's volatile nature always made him the center of scuffles. He thought it was boring when everyone got along.

Shuu's strong hands plunged beneath the surface and rose with one boy dangling by their wrists from each hand. Touma sputtered, coughing water before crying out in pain.

"Jesus fuck, dude, you're gonna dislocate my shoulder!" He cursed and was released, splashing back into the water. Shin was lowered for gently, blue eyes giving Shuu looks of utter betrayal. Seiji smirked when Touma punched Shuu's arm out of anger and reeled backwards, clutching his hand and cursing more. Carefully Seiji disrobed to his boxers, wading slowly into the water to inspect Touma's hand. Shuu apologized to Shin before disappearing into a backstroke to float in the middle of the lake.

Seiji frowned down at the swollen red fingers of Touma's right hand, feeling bones shifting. Ryo would be angry if Touma was unable to draw his bow in battle, and that's certainly what it felt like.

"Was it really necessary to get the last blow in, Touma?" He chastised. Touma didn't answer. Seiji looked up and saw his gaze was elsewhere, on Shin, intense and calculating. He recognized this as Touma's version of confusion. Shin was looking away, thinking as well, his face flushed for reasons Seiji couldn't determine.

"What happened?" Seiji pried again.

"Nothing, it was stupid," he replied curtly. Shin bit his lip. Touma's own lip curled. "Fucking poof," he snarled in Shin's direction, pulling away from Seiji's touch. He let him, unused to this sort of venom, even from Touma. Shin let out a heavy sigh, and let himself sink below the water again.

"Did he just call Shin what I think he did?" Ryo whispered hesitantly. Naste felt it was safer not to answer, and instead watched Touma and his vicious mood disappear back to the house.

The power finally went out that evening, causing the boys to emerge from their rooms to escape the heat, all except Touma. Shuu laid sprawled on the floor a wet rag over his head.

"Goddamn it's hot," he murmured, receiving a couple groans of agreement. Ryo just relaxed in a chair nearby, flipping through a sport magazine that was by now several months old. "Ryo, what kind of freak are you that this heat doesn't bother you?" Ryo just laughed, flipping through his magazine more.

"How long do you think Touma's going to sulk?" Shin questioned aloud, clothes soaked from when he jumped into the lake in desperation. Seiji was silent, despite their expectant looks. None of them knew Touma particularly well, even Shuu who'd known him the longest.

"Has he seemed bitchier to anyone?" Shuu questioned.

"Maybe it's the heat."

"Maybe he ran out of books to read." Any laughter was discrete. Then below them, they heard a crash.

In the beam of the flashlight, Touma's hands shook. The feeling of the house pressing around him, compressing the air, made him nauseous. With the flashlight held firmly between his teeth, he eyed the contraption before him. He had no experience using a generator; this would be a learning experience. The instructions were full of mouseholes. He hoped this would earn forgiveness for what he'd done.

He was embarrassed by what happened at the lake. The bruises on his wrist in the shape of Shuu's fingers only reminded him of Shin's face before they were pulled from the water. He cursed and jumped when something sharp pinched his stiff fingers. The thought of Shin unnerved him, now more than ever. But that didn't mean Shin deserved Touma's bad mood. Then again, Touma was generally on the receiving end of Shin's ill humor.

Stepping back he looked over the wiring and hoped it worked. Now all he needed to do was start it. He found a pull cable, like a lawnmower. When he tugged it didn't budge. Fantastic. He tried again, with both hands. It still didn't move, but he was stubborn. His jaw clenched as he felt the bones in his injured hand grind.

In an act of desperation he pushed off with his foot, leg straining. Suddenly the cable gave, and the generator grumbled to life as Touma fell backwards into a shelf. Old dishware rained down around him, shattering and crashing. Pain flared in his chest in panic and he clutched at his overworked heart, waiting for the angina to pass. He couldn't believe how shitty this day had been.

The Ronin's were halfway to the basement door when the lights in the house flickered on and the appliances hummed to life in the kitchen. Only Seiji continued to the door while the others looked around in surprise. Touma was slowly ascending the stairs, pale and shaking what were certain to be small pieces of antiques from his hair.

"I found a generator," he rasped proudly. Seiji didn't let his frown show on his face.

"How long will it last?" Asked Shuu, who stood in front of a fan.

"As long as there's gas," he answered, straightening and continuing to brush himself off. Shin looked up when he moved into the living room.

"How much was in the tank?" Shin murmured. He was still upset, but Touma looked so much like a child to him, admittedly, a very tall, very intelligent child. His hair was several levels beyond tousled, and dust was still clinging to the sweat on his cheeks and clothes.

"Dunno, I didn't check," Touma muttered, glancing away awkwardly. Shin moved closer to him, observing a small trickle of blood on his cheek from a cut above his eye. Seiji saw Touma go rigid until, with a mighty silence, the power went out again. "Apparently that much," he finished. His breath caught in his throat as fingers on his cheek wiped the blood away.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Jeebus, I'm incredibly sorry to those that were waiting for taking _forever_ to get this out. School is hell and graduation is looming ever larger in the distance. If you know of any conservation internships give me a heads up. Also, I'm sick right now, that's my other excuse. Though it's not a very good one. Hopefully Chapter 4 will be longer to compensate for the shortness of this one.

Acceleration

Chapter 3

Shuu found a flashlight somewhere in the pitch recesses of a closet. Seiji immediately took it, there was no argument. The darkness only served to magnify the vague sense of power Seiji emanated in the daytime. Ryo wanted everyone in the living room that night, in the event the Masho used the dark their advantage. Donning their underarmor, they began pulling mattresses down the dark stairs and halls. Shuu nearly leapt from his skin when he turned a corner and saw Seiji. Seiji seemed to stand out against the dark, hazy like a ghost, arms full of dim, pale sheets and pillows.. Shuu blamed it on his pale complexion, but something about the glint of his eyes made his stomach turn. The air around him felt chilled. Seiji gave an acknowledging nod of his head and moved on down the hallway, tails of blankets dragging behind him, but the icy sensation remained.

A cool hand on his shoulder made him yelp aloud. Turning, he could barely make out the form, but Touma's laugh gave him away.

"Jumpy much?" He teased.

"Seiji's scary as fuck in the dark," Shuu shuddered.

"Tell me about it," Touma agreed. "But he's also like my own personal nightlight, so I can't be mad at him for it." Shuu felt Touma's presence pull away, warmth returning to the air, leaving Shuu alone and puzzled in the hallway.

****

Downstairs Seiji was playing keeper of the light, sitting primly next to Jun who used the light to read a book with Touma. Ryo was sprawled across his own disheveled bed while Naste fixed her sheets next to him. Shin's own bed was also tidy, with Touma's in a state of extreme disarray next to it. When Seiji protested at the disorder in their room Touma explained that he subscribed to the chaos theory. Seiji didn't bother arguing anymore.

Ryo sat up as Shuu descended the stairs with his own mattress tucked under his arm.

"Meeting time," Ryo announced. Touma rolled his eyes. Ryo's meetings were more Ryo rambling disjointed ideas.

"What's the plan fearless leader?" Touma muttered, closing the book as Seiji flicked off the switch.

"I was thinking a couple of us could go into town tomorrow. I don't like not having power at night," he stated plainly. His face was serious in the darkness of the living room. They only had moonlight to see by.

"You want us to steal gas?" Shin questioned, sounding upset.

"It's not like they're using it exactly, Shin," Touma muttered.

"Besides, we've been stealing food for months." Shin sank into a guilty sulk.

"Touma, you and Shin will go," Ryo continued, plunging ever onward. Shin quietly accepted his fate, not even bothering to return the amused snide looks offered by Shuu. Touma protested loudly.

"How early do we have to go?" Touma whined.

"Before noon. I don't want you guys out there too late," Ryo murmured, already turning his attention away from them and back to Naste. Touma groaned again, and fell dramatically back on his bed.

****

Touma woke when Shin stumbled, his foot catching in the recklessly loose sheets on Touma's bed. He watched Shin creep to the porch, his skin corpse pale in the moonlight. He didn't move when Touma slid the porch door closed behind them. Shin's eyes were only on the lake, reflecting its movements back into the night.

"I'll go with you if you want," he murmured, not wanting to startle him, still Shin jumped. "S'not like we're going far. Ryo won't notice." Shin watched him awkwardly. Touma kept glancing away from his face, looking young and shy. Shin's hands lingered on the railing, taking careful steps on the stairs, the hard metal of the armor clicking and crunching the grass. Touma moved silently beside him. Shin resisted a shudder; both Seiji and Touma looked like ghosts at night. But where Seiji stood out of the murk, Touma all but disappeared, like a predator moving in and out of shadows.

Shin took a chance at conversation.

"How's your hand?" He whispered. Touma was so silent, Shin wasn't even sure he was there.

"Broken," Touma murmured, closer than Shin expected.

"Really? Can Seiji fix it?"

"He's still trying to figure out if and how to heal people."

"Ryo will be pissed," Shin offered.

"Then don't tell him, and don't tell Shuu."

"But it was your fault."

"I know, but he'll still feel guilty, it's Shuu." Shin was silent again till they reached the water. Touma watched him slide in without a word before he laid back in the grass, staring up at the sky. He could hear Shin's splash above the background noise of cicadas humming even this late in fall. Finally outside of the house, he felt he could breath. Relax. He often felt smothered by his thoughts, his feelings joining them in a bizarre cyclone. Without time to process them, without carefully forming them into graphs and charts in his mind, he said stupid things. Yelling at Shin had been stupid and immature, but the only thing he hated more than being irrational was admitting it.

Despite his relaxation, Touma didn't sleep. For awhile he watched the silhouette of his hand against the moon, aware of the tiny currents of air that flowed over his fingers. When he bored of that, he closed his eyes and let facts come to him, most of them tiny and useless things, but they were important to him. Eventually, this too bored him. Relaxing, he sank into a half sleep, attempting to see if he could detect the gentle current of Shin's breath against the breeze. A couple hours later, when the darkness of the night had sunk to its deepest, he waded in to wake Shin. Together, they walked back to the house, Shin stumbling alongside Touma, who guided him through the sleep haze and back to bed.

****

Much to his displeasure, Shuu, in exchange for not having to go into the city, was tasked with attempting to rouse Touma before noon. Grumbling he stalked into the living room after a distinctly unsatisfying and cold breakfast, and was surprised to find that Shin was also asleep. Everyone had assumed that he'd be in a bath by now, or in his preferred location of reading by the lake.

He grinned at the sight of Shin sprawled in a manner as graceless as Touma's. The sheets were tangled around his feet, head thrown back and his mouth slack jawed, hanging open and catching flies. Shuu shook Shin's mattress, nudging it with his foot.

"Rise and shine, gorgeous," he teased as Shin rolled over, gripping Touma's favorite pillow. Delicately he removed it from his grip, throwing it back onto Touma's bed. Shin's brow furrowed and he frowned furiously before his green eyes slowly cracked open. Unsurprisingly, he did not look happy to see Shuu's broad smiling face. Shin's clumsy hand reached up in an attempt to silence Shuu's unwanted good morning.

"S'time already?" He mumbled, finally sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Ryo's getting antsy, you should leave as soon as Touma's up," Shuu said, stepping over Shin to reach Touma's bed. Shuu kicked the bed, hard enough to move it a couple feet. Not even a flutter of eyelashes, or a shifting of positions. Shuu had never met someone that slept as deeply as Touma.

"Looks like I have awhile," Shin laughed, good humor already returned. "Try some ice, that always gets him up."

****

Touma insisted on driving, though Shin was nearly two years older than him, not that Shin had much say. Touma had beaten him to the car, scrambling to eat and bathe in under ten minutes. There Shin had found his smirking visage already behind the wheel, fingers laced over it. Shin had attempted to convince him to be content with being the passenger at first. He knew it wouldn't work though. Touma was a control freak.

"Touma, it's a stick, I can drive it."

"I know the theory, it's just a matter of applying it," he insisted. After a couple stalls, they were on their way down the blessedly empty roads. Touma drove silently. Shin had turned off the radio, skin crawling from the drone of the reporter on the talk show. Touma hadn't been as enthralled with the jazz station as Shin had.

"So do you get ready for school like that, too?" Shin teased. Touma shrugged.

"Sometimes. I normally try to just take classes in the afternoon and evenings," he offered awkwardly.

"Your high school lets you do that?" Shin asked, incredulously. Touma was silent for a minute, opting to turn on the talk radio again. Shin pondered. The jeep squeaked and groaned as the road became more battle scarred. Swatches of the rock by the side were flows of slag. It was hard to miss Ryo's damage.

"M'not in high school," Touma confessed. Shin was silent with surprise and did not offer any more questions, but did insist that Touma change the station. Silently, with an acceptable pop station coming in through the static, Shin observed the thinning of the trees as they neared the city.

****

Shin could hardly believe the city had been abandoned for only a few months. The pavement had begun to warp and crack and small seeps ran in rivulets down the road. Ailanthus trees taller than the both of them rose from sidewalks and bike lanes. Touma slipped from the car with a low whistle, hands on his hips. Kicking at small tufts of weeds that crawled across the road.

"How we gonna explain this to people?" He pondered aloud. Shin went around to the back of the jeep, retrieving the first of several fuel canisters and a hose. Touma wandered off, picking through the wreckage. Shin walked over to see him pick up a soggy hair dye container with the distorted smile of a lovely brunette on the cover. Touma looked from the box to the broken storefront nearby.

"Hey, Shin. We should get you some dye. Your roots are showing." Silently, Shin was appalled. He thrust the can at Touma angrily. "Nu-uh, I drove. Besides, you're better at sucking than I am." He teased, smirking. Shin fumed, dropped the canister at Touma's feet, and walked away.


	4. Chapter 4

This is just a teaser.

A/N: I am not dead! I wanted to apologize to those that actually are awaiting updates on my work. Life has suddenly become rather crazy and if anyone possesses any of the following I could ensure that more story for "Tying the Knot", "Speak", and "Acceleration" would be updated with great swiftness:

1) More brain space

2) Money, so I can eat.

3) A job for the summer for a Field Biologists.

4) Magical potions that can recover missing/dead people.

5) Graduate research position for a biology major.

In an attempt at apology I will be posting teasers for all of my Ronin stories. I've actually been working on all of them, I just don't have time to get all of my tidbits to a reasonable posting length.

Chapter 4

Touma didn't laugh for very long and didn't chase Shin like he might've before. Instead he picked up the canister and began to wander the streets. Finding the cars wasn't difficult, they littered the streets and sometimes sidewalks. A few had even found their way into the front of stores. What was difficult was finding the older cars, where you could pop the panel to the gas tank from the outside. After several blocks he growled in frustration, kicking a hubcap hard enough that the car jumped with the force, wheel twisting inwards.

If Shuu had done it, he was sure it would be several streets down right now, a trail of carnage in its path. He glanced around, looking for Shin. Mentally he could feel him nearby, brooding. Touma smirked as he pried a piece of rebar from a tumbled wall. Shin was the one who insisted that they not damage the cars as compensation for stealing. Personally, Touma didn't care in the slightest. Once he smashed in the cap cover, the process was much quicker. Pleased, he went looking for Shin.


End file.
